Obama sets out tax rises for rich in budget

Barack Obama, the US president, has submitted a 2013 budget and said the new proposal, including tax hikes on the rich and jobs programmes, would expand economic growth in the country.

Obama said on Monday that his $3.8tn budget would create jobs, change an economic system tilted towards the wealthy and make long-term cuts to deficits now set to top $1tn four years in a row.

But the blueprint immediately sunk into the mire of Washington politics, with Republicans calling it an “insult” to taxpayers, a mere “campaign document” and an example of an America “drowning in debt”.

Alan Fisher reports from Washington DC.